A trainer has been suspended and fined after his race horse tested positive for 7-Carboxycannabidiol, a metabolite of CBD, a component of the cannabis plant.
Jesse Compton faces a 15-day suspension and a $1,000 fine after his thoroughbred Sissaway Now tested positive for the Class B controlled medication violation following a race.
The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit handed down the ruling and upheld it despite Compton’s challenge.
According to the Paulick Report, Compton said that "the only explanation I can think of is that this particular horse got loose at the farm and ran into a field containing wild ditch weed.”
“He ran loose for [about] 45 minutes before we caught him and I did observe him eating near a patch of wild cannabis,” he said in the report.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority includes both THC and related cannabinoids on its list of banned substances for horses.
